NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Through community contributions, Gills Point S Tire raised more than $5,000 to make local teens' holidays a little brighter.

 

"Supporting programs and fundraisers for our children shows that, although we all have our own issues and lives, at the end of the day our community truly cares about each other and the future," store manager Jessica Perin said.

 

Perin said the program is in its third year, and the Curran Highway tire specialists decided to help teens because they felt they were an underserved group during the holidays.

 

"It is important to band together to support our teens who are the next generation who will be running this community in the future," she said. "Unfortunately, a vast majority of Christmas fundraisers only support children up to 12 years old.  I believe we are the only program in Northern Berkshire to concentrate specifically on teenagers at this time."

 

The store started collecting donations earlier than it has in past years with a multipronged approach. Perin noted that the number of teens involved has doubled in size in each year the program has run.

 

Fundraising started with a raffle at Motorama this summer while still maintaining a donation jar, adopt and teen stars, and a giving tree at the store.

 

She said while owner Eric Gills and store customers have been the biggest contributors, the wider community has also stepped in.

 

Businesses including Meraki Hair Salon hosted a giving tree and collected donations, and Hometown Tire hosted an adoption stars at its location to collect gifts. 

 

She said other businesses such as Klipper Kingz, Limited Edition and Berkshire Hair Trendz, Ramuntos, Chef'sHat and Adams Pizza House have also stepped up to support the program with gift card donations.

 

"It is important for local businesses to support the community because as they used to say it takes a village to raise a child," she said. "We feel it is important to band together to support our teens who are the next generation of our community."

 

Gifts were handed out Dec. 20.